Straw poll: when did you first feel able to leave DC to be put to bed by a babysitter?

[KikiShack]

I'm interested in exactly that- at what age were you happy enough with DC's sleep that you could have a baby sitter / trusted friend over and leave an awake DC with them at say 6.30pm for a cuddle, change If necessary, quick bottle of f/ebm then into the cot and close the door and be secure in the knowledge DC would drift off.
I'm not asking when you actually did this, whether you would feel ok having a night out away from baby, whether you'd take baby out with you to a restaurant etc. I am only interested in at what age DC's sleep was at a stage at which you could leave them as described above.
This is for interest to help my understanding of my situation vs a friend's. I'd like to know which of us has the more 'normal' baby and which of us it's super lucky or very unlucky!
Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences with me xx

I agree with you Back - my DS also loved having a sitter, as you say, someone who is there to play with them - but then I have been blessed with a really good sleeper who never got fussed about who/how the bedtime routine happened - I was strict ie: bedtime was 7pm from Day One but it never mattered who put him to bed.

A dear friend of mine was a bit obsessive about her childrens' routine and they were very, very bad sleepers, she would never leave them because she didn't trust anyone to put them to bed 'properly' - wouldn't even let her DH put them to bed , however the ONE night she had to leave them (with family) was the ONE night they settled happily and slept through - they were aged 6 & 8.

Ds was about 12 weeks corrected age (he was very prem) and we left him with my parents. I figured that I'd survived.... To be fair he slept in his baby swing which wasn't ideal, but we managed. He was about 6 months before they could get him to sleep in his bed. He was bf but would take bottles of expressed milk no problem. ( thanks to scbu). He has always slept well though.

I agree back. Although I don't go out before bedtime all that often, I love the idea that I can. I really don't like feeling that I can't do this or that because of DC even though in fact I happily spend the vast majority of my time with them. Also I'm as a teacher I have to be at work quite often between 5 and about 8 for parents' evenings. DP works away and so I have needed to let babysitters put DD to bed.

We did it when ds was about 6 months. We just asked that he was kept happy and knew sleep would be a bonus. He was asleep in her arms in front of the telly when we returned. In fact whenever we had sitters half the time he was awake when we returned but then would go to sleep happily.

Dd is nearly 2 and will be put to bed by a sitter next week for first time.

I would leave them from babies but why fo they need to just drift off thats what the babysitter sorts out. If they wake up they look after them else bit of a rubbish favour.

It's not really an age thing, in my experience. It's more temperament, how well they know the person caring for them and to some extent luck.

Tiny babies don't really care who is looking after them as long as they are being held and fed - BF babies may show a preference for the mother, but aside from that, they haven't formed attachments yet, they don't really notice.

I don't know if DS would have settled if we'd fed and left him, because I never tried it. I didn't want to leave him alone!

I first left him in the evening when he was 10 weeks old as it was XP's Christmas do. He was fine but he was awake when I got back. I think he was 8 months when I left him again, can't remember if he was awake or not, certainly when he was 13-18ish months, if I went out he'd only fall asleep through exhaustion (e.g. on the sofa downstairs) or wait up for me, he was about 2ish by the time he'd actually go to bed for someone other than me. I didn't really mind, it just meant he had a late night if I went out. He wasn't at nursery and didn't need to get up early so it didn't matter.

We do this regularly. DS is 13 months and we did it for the first time when he was 3 months, actually I find it a bit harder/more worrying now than I did during the first year. We still do it though because it is really important to us to go out as a couple and we find it makes a huge difference to our morale when we do it. Of course we come back early if the sitter texts to say there's any problem. We have a pretty fixed bedtime routine so we just ask the sitter to follow it.

Not until my oldest 3 were all at school would it have been possible.